Keene State College / MCST Transition Resources

"The notion of education implies that there's a path towards a definitive, finished state wherein an individual has become "educated." But in a world of accelerated change, with rapid disruption cycles in industry and with rising automation, that end state of being "educated" is just no longer meaningful. An individual must have learning agility - the ability to learn, adapt, and apply in quick cycles. "

My new film Intelligent Lives (working title, coming Fall 2017) will explore how our narrow views of intelligence have created unnecessary "ceilings" for people with intellectual disability, and how Micah and Naieer embody a new paradigm of what it means to be intelligent. The film features narration and a personal perspective from Academy Award winning actor Chris Cooper.

"Jonathan Plucker's Tips on How to Succeed in College"

"Transforming the neighborhood school: Madison's community schools initiative will bring services and support to students and their families"

"A new Department of Public Instruction webpage and video explore best ways of implementing the practice of co-teaching, in order to help all children, including those with disabilities, succeed. The DPI invites comments about co-teaching from Wisconsin educators through a simple form at dpi.wi.gov/sped/educators/consultation/co-teaching, a page which is still evolving."

"Participants will understand that students with severe developmental disabilities will also need some intensive, systematic instruction to learn priority content, which can be embedded in the milieu of a general education classroom. Participants will learn what to teach as well as how to teach through systematic instruction and best practices for supporting students with severe disabilities in order to improve their outcomes. Through this CEM, participants will learn how to plan instruction to provide students with severe disabilities opportunities to learn academic content linked to state standards as well as the social, daily living, and job skills needed for life after high school."

"Personalized learning places the interests and abilities of learners at the center of their education experience. Educators develop environments in which students and teachers together build plans for learners to achieve both interest-based and standards-based goals. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education worked with leaders at the Institute for Personalized Learning (IPL) to identify five K-12 schools for a 6-month research project documenting what personalized learning looks like in these schools. "

The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) has released three new publications, including "By Youth, for Youth: Employment," "Transition Truths: An Overview of Transition Systems," and "Supporting Families of Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Education: Learning from the Voices of Families." NCWD/Youth assists state and local workforce development systems to better serve all youth, including youth with disabilities and other disconnected youth, and is composed of partners with expertise in education, youth development, disability, employment, workforce development, and family issues.

"WestEd's National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) helps states transform their systems to improve outcomes for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. NCSI provides states with technical assistance to support their school districts and local early intervention service programs in improving education results and functional outcomes for children with disabilities."

Webinar evaluation of professional development programs.

"Teenagers think differently to grownups - they are more likely to take risks, be sleepy, misread emotions, give in to peer-pressure and lack self-control. Thanks to advances in technology, we have been able to peer inside the teenage brain and see more clearly how it works. So what have we discovered? And how can teachers use this information to help young people navigate the challenges of growing up and getting an education?"

"Why do so many students hate math, fear it, or both? If you ask most students what they think their role is in math classrooms, they will tell you it is to get questions right. Students rarely think that they are in math classrooms to appreciate the beauty of mathematics, to ask deep questions, to explore the rich set of connections that make up the subject, or even to learn about the applicability of the subject; they think they are in math classrooms to perform. This was brought home to me recently when a colleague, Rachel Lambert, told me that her 6-year-old son had come home saying he didn't like math; when she asked him why, he said that math was "too much answer time and not enough learning time.""

"The Institute for Personalized Learning Meeting each learner where they are, with what they need, when they need it"

Lead the Way: Engaging Youth in Health Care is the School-Based Health Alliance's online youth engagement toolkit. This resource is designed for individuals who work in school-based or community health centers who want to engage youth in their mission and work.

The expression, "It takes a village to raise a child," is never more true than when talking about a child with a disability. Young people with disabilities need a support system that recognizes their individual strengths, interests, fears, and dreams and allows them to take charge of their future. Parents, teachers, family members, and friends in the community who offer informal guidance, support, and love can create the "village" for every child.

"The world of work has changed. A high school diploma alone no longer guarantees a decent living wage. A typical career path today does not necessarily follow the traditional course of high school, college, and long-term employment. Rather, according to the most recent available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker today stays at each of his or her jobs for 4.4 years, with the workforce's youngest employees staying less than 3 years. That means that they will have 15 to 20 jobs over their working lives. One reality of today's workforce, however, that has remained the same is that youth need to develop skills to be employed. To be able to acquire these skills and effectively change jobs, and plan and manage multiple careers over one's life time, career development skills are important. The process by which youth get to know their strengths and interests, learn how different jobs connect with those interests, and build these career planning and management skills is called career development."

"NHCTA is a professional association for the administrators and directors of the career and technical education centers that serve New Hampshire's high school students. NHCTA works closely with the Bureau of Career Development of the NH Department of Education to help guide and implement policies and procedures dealing with CTE programs."